


5 months later

by onlymywishfulthinking



Category: Hollyoaks
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Family, Fix-It, Healing, M/M, Surprises, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 01:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21189200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlymywishfulthinking/pseuds/onlymywishfulthinking
Summary: FIX IT FIC  - Harry played the recording of Mercedes’s confession over the phone for the Detective.All-in-one fix it fic that touches briefly upon the hit-and-run case, the drugging, the paranoia, Christmas, and James's childhood + a bit of soppiness.





	5 months later

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Jarry fic so I don't know what I'm doing! I'm not a native english speaker and it's been a long time since I've written anything so there will probably be grammar mistakes. If you see any mistakes please drop a line so I can change them, thank you :)

Harry played the recording of Mercedes’s confession over the phone for the Detective. They agreed on a deal that meant that he could come into the station for further inquiries into the recording without him immediately being shipped off to prison because of the missed plea hearing.

When he hung up he saw that there was a new voicemail from James. His heart lurched in his chest at the raw pain of James’s hatred for him but he pressed the notification to listen to it anyway. He had to. He didn’t want to believe that James had truly meant what he had said to him, a small voice in the back of his mind reminding him that this was James’s demons taking over and causing the hurtful words. He knew from experience that James lashed out and did bitter and twisted things when he was feeling hurt. And this time Harry had hurt James deeply.

But still, knowing that James had drugged him to send him to prison as a punishment for what he had done felt like a step too far. James might be a lot of things but he had never willfully hurt him like this before and that was what gave Harry pause, it was hard to wrap his head around it. He was angry, shocked, and extremely hurt by James’s actions and yet he couldn’t just give up on them and let James go, because he knew, in his heart, that James was still the only person that he truly loved and the only person that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It was messed up but true.

So he listened to the voicemail and tears started to run down his face at the sound of James’s desperate and pleading voice. _“Harry. Look, I’m so sorry for what I did and I’m gonna get you off the charges, I promise you because I love you, I do. Just, if you get this, call me.”_

After extensive investigations over the next few days, many thanks to James’s endless persistence, the Police found both Mercedes’s and Liam’s prints inside the car. They also found new CCTV placing them in the car 5 minutes before Grace had been run over. Harry was finally exonerated from all suspicions and charges, he was free.

The days he had spent with James at the station, the two of them fighting for his freedom together, starting to really talk about their relationship and James vowing to seek professional help for his paranoia made Harry believe, even more, that he had made the right choice, that they were going to be able to work their way back to each other after all.

––––––––––––––5 MONTHS LATER –––––––––––

“James?”

Only a low hum came as a response from James who was sat at their small kitchen table, hunched over a pile of legal documents.

“Don’t get mad. Okay? Just let me explain before you start to panic.”

James’s head shot up, fear already etched on his face. “What have you done?”

Harry let out a heavy sigh and sat down opposite James. “See?” he gestured with his hand. “This is why I told you not to panic.”

There had been too many bad things happening to them during the last 2 years. James could feel his heartbeat in his throat starting to suffocate him as his panic rose. The past 5 months had been really good between them but sometimes dread and insecurities would still pop back up in moments like this that reminded him of their unlucky past where something always got in the way of their happiness.

He had managed to work through the jealousy and paranoia and he was still seeing a therapist regularly. Harry had forgiven him for the drugging and taken him back, his love for James proved to be just as strong as Harry always told him it was. And it made James feel even more angry and disappointed with himself for letting his insecurities take control of his mind and doubt Harry at every turn and having caused the man he loved so much distress and agony.

“Just calm down. Okay? It’s nothing bad,” Harry laughed and made a face. “Well, actually-”

“Spit it out then!” James snapped.

“I told my dad that we would join them for Christmas dinner.” It came out hesitant and as a question, more than anything.

James closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath. “I thought you were gonna say you had run someone over.”

He opened his eyes and saw Harry frowning back at him.

“Sorry.” James quickly reached out and squeezed Harry’s hand. “My therapist told me I have to stop expecting the worst but..,” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “I just don’t want to lose you and I don’t want you to get hurt. I worry. I know I shouldn’t but with our track record…”

Harry placed his hand on top of James’s and squeezed him back, giving him a soft smile. “Hey, that’s all in the past. Okay? I know it’s a long process but I think you’re doing great. I’m so proud of you, James.”

James gave him a modest smile in return. “It’s important to me. I told you before that I wanted to be someone better, someone that you deserved and I meant it.”

“You already are.”

James let the love that was radiating through Harry’s eyes ground him and calm him down again.

“So,” he cleared his voice, “why exactly did you agree to this Christmas dinner? It got car crash written all over it,” he half-joked.

Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes at him. “Well, seeing as Marnie and my granddad are dating now, Dad thought it’d be nice to have a big proper Hutchinson and Nightingales Christmas dinner. Let bygones be bygones, you know?”

“Spending a whole day with the patriarchs of the Hutchinson clan, as well as 3 screaming kids? It’s not exactly what I had pictured as a joyful Christmas. But I suppose, if it’s important to you, I guess, maybe, I could be persuaded, somehow.” There really wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Harry. He’d even put up with Tony, who thought he was God’s culinary gift to mankind, for a whole day if it meant making Harry even the slightest bit happy.

“Oh Nightingale, I thought this was gonna go down a lot worse! Where’s my grumpy and naughty little Grinch gone, ey?” Harry teased, a big toothy grin on his face. “You haven’t gone soft on me now, have ya?”

James pulled Harry to him so he ended up in his lap and Harry happily wrapped his arms around his neck. “Oh, he’s still here, don’t you worry about that,” James declared and leaned in for a playful kiss.

“And when have I ever gone soft on you?” James smirked, rolling his hips up at Harry suggestively.

“Mmm, touché,” Harry murmured against James’s lips.

————————————————————————

It was a little past 2 am and the soft sound of Wagner filled their bedroom. They were sitting in bed snuggled up together, drinking red wine and eating Stilton cheese and grapes and were just enjoying each others company in the still December night.

It had been a hectic and eventful Christmas Day at the Hutchinsons, to say the least. To James’s surprise, he had been asked to prepare the turkey and also to carve it at the table, which made him feel all sorts of things he’d never admit to. After dinner, James had been roped in to play Fifa with Romeo and Harry’s three younger siblings and after many loud protests he had finally relented, much to Harry’s amusement.

Later, Tony had even dragged him off into a quiet corner and told him he was thankful for James having seen sense with helping Harry with the hit and run case in July. Tony also told him that Harry’s unwavering belief in James overcoming his paranoia was what had made him able to move on as well and he hoped they both could come over for dinner a lot more often than just during the Holidays.

So for the first time on Christmas, James actually felt happy and like he belonged with his family. Growing up, Christmas had always been a reminder of how much Mac loved Nathan, Ellie and Alfie and how much he hated James. And every year James would hope that the next Christmas would be different, but it never was. But now 33 years later, he had finally found a family who accepted him and Harry’s unconditional love for him had made that all possible. What he’d done to deserve him, he’d never know.

An inescapable and forlorn grunt rumbled out of James when Harry shimmied out of their cosy embrace and instead was crouching down and looking underneath the bed, shuffling around with something.

Then Harry poked his head up and grinned at him. “I got you something. Something that I wanted to give you in private.”

James sat up further in bed, looking over at Harry with genuine surprise. “But you already got us Pagliacci tickets. Oh, to finally be able to inaugurate you, my sweet Harry, in the exquisite world of Opera,” he beamed and made a dramatic hand gesture, “will simply be marvellous.”

“Think you’re getting ahead of yourself there, Nightingale,” Harry tittered.

Harry got up on the bed and sat down on his knees with a beautifully wrapped gift in his hands. “So, I wanted to give you this too but it’s a bit delicate. Didn’t want the kids to ruin it.” He gave James the present and shifted closer to him, excitement gracing his face.

James carefully ripped the wrapping off and opened the tin box that was within. Inside lay a wig, the one he had searched for to complete his collection of 19th-century solicitor wigs. His eyes immediately flew to Harry’s and he surged forward to give the younger man a searing kiss of gratitude.

He pulled back, holding the wig up to admire it more closely. “How did you know? Where did you find it? How could you afford- I've been looking for this for years!”

Harry grinned back at James. “You told me about it when we were at that museum during our holiday, remember? And I never told you but when I was in Lisbon visiting Zack and Holly last month, I won some money off a casino and googled around for the wig. Got lucky, it had just come out on the market.”

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Harry.” He carefully put the wig down in its box and pulled Harry in for a fiery kiss, hands roaming freely against Harry’s naked skin underneath his fluffy robe. But he reluctantly had to break their kiss off before it got too heated, which evoked a needy whine from Harry’s throat and James couldn’t stop the smirk on his lips.

“Speaking of gifts, I have a little surprise gift for you too,” James winked.

“Oh?” Harry said wiggling his brows at him, hunger shining through his eyes. “Is it that red judge's robe you showed me before?” he grinned at James as he pulled him closer by the lapels of his red silk dressing gown.

James grabbed Harry’s left hand and dragged him off the bed with him. “No, that’s for Valentine’s Day.”

Harry pouted back at him and James couldn’t help but to roll his eyes at him and bend down to kiss those soft full lips one more time.

On their way out of the bedroom, Harry halted their movements. “But James, you paying for my full tuition for Uni was more than enough of a gift. Thank you so much.”

“Well, as thrilling as it is to watch your sweet derrière slide into those neon-green spandex tights every day, I wanna see that clever brain of yours put to good use too. A degree is a degree after all, despite it being sports-related,” he huffed out the last words playfully, provoking the usual eye-roll from Harry in response.

“No, this is something different. I was gonna give it to you this morning, but it’s better now I think when it's just the two of us,” he smiled back at Harry tenderly.

Still holding his hand, James led Harry out of their bedroom and they walked quietly down the hall, as the rest of the family was fast asleep. James slowly opened the door to the spare room, that was usually housing boxes of his old case files and his mother’s designer handbag collection and other knickknacks.

He switched on the lights and felt Harry instantly squeeze his hand tighter. James turned to look at him and tears were already building up in Harry’s beautiful big blue eyes. James swallowed hard. It always ripped at his heart seeing Harry cry, even though he knew this time it was tears of happiness.

“You did this?” Harry asked, voice trembling slightly.

James led him further into the room and closed the door behind them. “Well, you did say you wanted Isaac to spend more time here now that he’s easier to manage on your own, so I thought maybe-”

He didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence as Harry’s hands grabbed his face and yanked him down for an urgent kiss. Harry’s lips pressed hard into his, their bodies slotted perfectly together and James instinctively wrapped his arms around Harry to pull him in even closer.

When they finally came back for air Harry wiped at his eyes and took another look around the room. It was painted in a lighter shade of viridian, that ran throughout the flat. A white dresser and changing-table were standing in one corner and a yellow rocking-chair and a white sheepskin rug, in front of it, in the other. A beautiful wooden crib, with a rainbow mobile hanging over it, made up the centre of the room.

Harry turned back to James and pulled him down for a hug, burying his face in his boyfriend’s neck, inhaling that calming yet intoxicating scent that was his James, that always made him feel safe.

“Thank you,” Harry whispered. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3 Comments and kudos are always appreciated :)
> 
> * Some of you might remember that Mercedes and Scott broke into James's apartment and found his vintage solicitors wig collection back in April 2017. (note: that's not the wigs Jarry used for roleplay) I wanted Harry to give James an expensive gift since James's gift for Harry was paying his full tuition to Uni. I googled around and a 19th century solitary wig costs around 2000-3000 pounds and one term of tuition fees are about 10k.
> 
> Also if you have received comments on a Jarry fic by a user called Jarry-Anon that's me! I couldn't find my login so I made an alias.
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr: [onlymywishfulthinking](https://onlymywishfulthinking.tumblr.com/)
> 
> And as always, fuck HO and fuck BK for what they did to Jarry!!!


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